Wordy problems - timing approach

Question

Hey GmatClub!

Recently I did the Online Gmat and 25/31 questions were very wordy (80-120 words).
My question is: what should be the timing strategy while doing the exam, considering that on wordy questions I spend more than two minutes?
On mocks I would be left with 3-5 min extra by the end of the exam; however, on the real one I had to guess a lot of questions because of time constraints.

Thank you!

logro · Answer

Hey - Just try to convert the word problems to math problems using variables while you go through the question on the first turn

So that way as you read you can make the notes and probably revisit it again if need be but this should be done within 45s

shameekv1989 · Answer

You certainly need to practice and get a hang of common word problems such as Mixture, Overlapping problems.

The main task is to spot and realize quickly the approach you would need to take for those common word problems. For eg. I would quickly understand I need to use a 2*2 matrix for a particular type of word problems from the way the question stem would be worded.

This will help you in accelerating!!

AndrewN · Answer

Hello,  Jeffry289 . I agree with what has been written above. In fact, I follow and teach a three-step process to Quant that allows the test-taker to remain calm even in the face of a difficult or lengthy question:

1) What is the question asking? (For instance, you might get a question that asks about the value of x - y, and while you may never know the individual values of x and y, you may still be able to answer  the question that is being asked .)

2) What information do I have? (As was suggested above, write down what you know as you encounter it. This will help you overcome that initial inertia or feeling that you have stepped in quicksand and are afraid to make a move. Too often, students make the mistake of seeking to take in all the information at once, and the task becomes overwhelming.)

3) What is the core concept being tested, or what concepts are being tested? (Even the hardest questions build from foundational concepts, and if you can identify that concept or those concepts, you will have a much better chance of being able to tackle the problem.)

To improve your timing, you will also need to spend time reviewing questions. If you have gone through the OG, for example, look up the questions you missed or guessed on right here in the forum, see if someone else has offered a novel way of going through the same question more efficiently. Through a combination of review and practice, your accuracy will increase, your confidence will go up, and, to speak to the point, your timing will go down.

Good luck with your studies.

- Andrew

Wordy problems - timing approach

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